Nick Green opened his first press conference featuring members of the Australian Olympic Team surrounded by five of Australia’s finest women in sport.
Nick Green opened his first press conference featuring members of the Australian Olympic Team surrounded by five of Australia’s finest women in sport.
To Green’s left sat captains of the women’s basketball and hockey teams - Lauren Jackson and Madonna Blyth, and their respective protégées Liz Cambage and Casey Eastham. On his right was Jessica Fox who won canoe slalom gold at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games with Green as the Team Chef de Mission.
Fellow paddler Kynan Maley was the only other male at a table that may not have reflected the gender split in the Team, but might well indicate where some strong medal chances lie.
The 2012 Team comprises of 224 men and 186 women (55% male, 45% female). In 2008 Australian women won 58% of Australia’s medals.
“Although this time the male ratio is greater than the female ratio in terms of athletes, we have a number of our competitors who are genuine world class athletes and medal contenders across a number of different disciplines,” Green said.
“I think that’s one of the great things about the Australian Team - the way that Australians approach sport is that the women can compete well and compete against the best in the world,” Blyth added.
Blyth and the Hockeyroos finished fifth at the Beijing Olympics after reaching the podium in 2000, 1996 and 1988. They hope to return to podium form in 2012.
“I think as hockey players we have a rich female history in our sport and so we’d really like to replicate that and I guess draw from that experience and do what the men did in Athens and bring back a gold medal.
“I think we’ve been given every opportunity to do that and we look to our history to get inspiration from the women that have won gold medals before.”
Basketball’s Jackson and Cambage are part of an Opals team with an illustrious Olympic history. The Opals have won three silver medals from the past three Games but are hoping to replace consistency with gold this Olympiad.
“I think this particular team is very talented. We’ve got great experience and we’ve got very talented youth,” Jackson said.
“We’re focusing on putting ourselves in the best position to be in the medal rounds and then hopefully the gold medal round,” Jackson said.
Taya Conomos in London
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